Donald Trump struggles to pronounce name of IVF drug, makes up for with self-deprecating humor: Viral video wins hearts

A consistent feature of Donald Trump’s second presidency has been guffaws, with the US president regularly confusing the names of countries he claims helped broker ceasefires. Trump continued this streak on Friday, but this time the bluff was more medical than geographic in nature. While announcing policy changes to make in vitro fertilization (IVF) more affordable, the US president had a difficult time pronouncing the name of fertility drug Pergoveris, leading to a truly comical moment during his press conference. Speaking from the White House, Trump began on a solemn note: “…We are working with the company to expedite the review and approval of another common IVF fertility drug, and currently selling it in Europe… (sic),” the US president said before providing other details. However, completing the sentence required considerable effort from the 79-year-old. “…It’s Pergo-verious…Per-go-verous. It’s…Pergoverous (sic),” Trump said, apparently struggling to get the pronunciation right. After trying three times to get the name right, Trump immediately turned to an unseen person in the video and asked, “Why can’t you call them nice, simple names? Nice, easy names?” The US president’s struggle to get the name right, and his candid question immediately afterwards, drew a hearty laugh from everyone present, before the briefing continued. As people laughed, Trump waved his hand dismissively at his own question and continued: “It doesn’t matter. If it works, that’s all we care about, right?” How did social media react to Trump’s rant? While Trump’s fight to get the Pergoveris ruling right didn’t “matter” in the grand scheme of things, as he rightly said, it nevertheless caught the attention of social media users and quickly went viral. As the video circulated, people wondered if the US president had even been briefed before the press. “You’d think someone on his own team would brief him before he speaks,” one user wrote, while another wondered: “Do they ever prepare him?” Despite the bluster, however, Trump’s frank admission of his struggles and self-deprecating humor went down well with most users, with many coming to the US president’s defense and recounting how they themselves often struggled to pronounce the names of prescription drugs they used. “How many people have said the exact same thing when trying to read the name of a prescription medication, I know I have,” one user wrote. “Yeah I got a cancer drug I could never pronounce. It was PEMB something,” added another. Social media users also praised Trump for making mistakes that people usually do on a regular basis, praising him for ‘keeping it straight’. “Don’t listen to anyone giving a crap about this. I’m a nurse and we can’t say half of these drug names either. You need to hear us behind the docs this stuff sounds like some twisted version of Hooked on Phonics,” wrote one user. “Bush would have looked up with a smug look on his face after saying that and Biden would have mumbled his way through it. Only Trump would be so self-deprecating,” wrote another. While Trump’s mistakes, especially in the context of strained geopolitical relations, have often drawn ridicule, even from world leaders like French President Emmanuel Macron, this one seems to have won over the internet.